Daijiworld Media Network - Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Feb 27: Supreme Court of Israel on Friday temporarily blocked the government from shutting down the Gaza operations of dozens of international aid organisations, following a petition challenging new Israeli regulations.

In December, Israel ordered 37 international organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Norwegian Refugee Council, to halt their work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within 60 days unless they complied with new rules requiring them to provide details of their Palestinian staff.

Seventeen NGOs along with the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) filed an urgent petition before the Israeli High Court of Justice on Sunday, warning that enforcing the order would have devastating humanitarian consequences.

The Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction allowing the organisations to continue most of their operations while it examines the petition.

Aid groups have argued that sharing detailed staff information could endanger employees, noting that hundreds of aid workers have been killed or injured during the war in Gaza. Israeli authorities have maintained that the registration requirement is aimed at preventing diversion of aid by Palestinian armed groups, an allegation aid agencies dispute.

Athena Rayburn, executive director of AIDA, said they were awaiting clarity on how the injunction would be interpreted by the state and whether it would enable greater operational freedom. She described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic.”

There was no immediate response from Israeli government spokespersons on the court’s interim order.